Air cushion seat



Jan. 5, 1932.

H. E. `WOLF AIR CUSHION SEAT Filed March 18, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet gwoe'ufof,

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HARRY E. WOLF, 0F PITTSBURGH, IENNSYTJVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO FORT PITT BEDDING COMPANY, 0F PITTSBURGH, IENNSYLVANIA, .A CORPORATION OF PENNSYLVANIA am CUSHION saar Application led March 1S, 1929. Serial No. 348,082.`

This invention relates to air cushion seats; and it comprises a seat cushion having a cover portion extend/ing over the top and sides of thc spring frame and a bottom portion of a material which is substantially impervious to air, clamped to said spring frame simultaneously with and overlapped by the cover portion, the said seat being so constructed that its interior provides a closed air chamber with one or more openings in the bottom portion for restricting the flow of air from the interior-thereof upon sudden shock tending to collapse it against the action of its springs, and is directed especially to means whereby the wear upon the bottom portion is reduced to a minimum; and it also comprises a clamping strip so constructed that it cooperates with the other elements of the seat to secure this minimum wear of the bottom portion, the parts cooperating so that the bottom portion is not permitted to flap against the spring frame and is held out of contact with the support for the seat; and it further comprises a cushion seatfhaving a lower border frame substantially J-shaped in cross-section; transverse U-shaped spring supporting cross bars or slats having means for supporting the springs, the lower border frameand cross bars being so united to form a very rigid bottom support for the seat; all as more fully hereinafter set forth and as claimed.

Spring seats which are closed at the bottom to produce an air cushioning effect for assisting the cushion ei'ect of the spring seats are not new, but the bottoms of such seats are quickly worn because of the rubbing of the bottom fabric against the seat support when it is in use, this resulting in rapid wear of the bottom material and consequent destruction of the air cushioning effect which is sou ht. Moreover, without exception, so far as t e applicant is aware, where cushion seats have been supplied with fabric bottoms, such bottoms are sewed or tacked to the spring frame independently of the seat cover. Where a met'al frame is used, sewing must be resorted. to, but this is laborious and prohibitively expensive. If a wooden frame is used the practice has heretofore been to tack shocks and strains to which the seat is subjected.

Also in air cushion seats of the prior art there is another type of wear of the bottom portion which is very serious and which leads to a rapid destruction of the air cushion function of the said seat. When the air cushion seat is in use -the compression and release of bottom material to expand and contract and in doing so flap against the cross bars. This leads to excessive wear of the bottom material at points in contact with the cross bars.

In the present invention these diiliculties are overcome by assembling in a special cooperative relation a multiple clamping strip of special design with a bottom support consistmg of a J-shaped lower border frame and inverted U-shaped cross bars. This cooperative relation of vclamping strip and bottom support secure the cover and bottom portion to the spring frame in a very superior manner and preventing the bottom portion from being subjected to wear as in the air cushion seats of the prior art. The detailed construction of the clamping strip and bottom support, and the cooperative relation in which they are assembled to form the new air cushion vseat are hereinafter set forth.

It is old in the art to which this invention relates to provide a lower border frame with continuous or discontinuous clamps holding the side walls to the cover around the lower border frame but it is new and novel in the art to provide a clamp so designed to cooperate with the cross bars and lower border frame to secure the bottom portion to prevent the same from flapping under the influence of the air trap ed in the. interior of thel cushion seat. T e object of the invention isl to produce an inexpensive air cushion seat `the air within the cushion tends to cause the of Fig. 2;

F'g. 4 is. a section taken online 4-4 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a bottom plan view on a smaller scale than Fig. 1 having the bottom portion broken away to show the cross bars or slats; and

Fig. 6 is a section taken on line 6-6 of Fig. 5.

Referring to the drawings 1 indicates a lower border frame which 1s preferably of sheet metal and which has an outside Wall 2 and an inside wall or turned-bead 3 spaced therefrom. Bridging the opposite sides of such lower border frame are a plurality of U-shapedslats orr bars 4 with their open ends positioned upwardly. Adjacent the ends of the transverse bars or slats the walls of the U are turned down and outward to form flared portions 4a. In this manner the ends of the bars are given a somewhat tapered form. The bottom portion of the U forms a rounded portion'4b which terminates at a point adjacent and in contact with the beaded portion of the lower border frame. At the ends of the transverse bars there is a downwardly turned flange 12 which terminates at a point'slightly above the end 16 of the rounded portion 4b. At intervals along the length of the transverse barsithere are provided holes in the opposite Vwalls for the reception of the lowermost coil 5 of the coil springs 6. These springs are attached at their top by means of clips 7 to the upper wire frame Sand over the spring is positioned padding 9, which is in turn covered by the seat cover 10 having downwardly extending walls 11. In assembling the bottom support the transverse bars or slats are placed bridging two opposite sides of the lower border frame, the flanges 12 being positioned and clamped between the walls 2 and 3 of the lower border frame. When these slats are placed in position the metal of the outside wall of kthe lower border frame is bent or swaged over as indicated at 13 in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, the metal being pressed down into the U portion of the transverse cross bar to hold the slats against longitudinal movement in the frame. This assemblage of parts produces a bottom support for the cushion seat in which the transverse bars are 'securely locked to the lower border frame and in and easily aswhich the lower border frame, the ange 12 of the cross bar and the end of the cross bar are all substantially in the same plane, giving great structural strength to the bottom support. This results in a very rigid con struction which can be easily and quickly assembled and which is very advantageously used in connection with a bottom fabric in forming an air cushion seat.

By having the open sides of the U-shaped cross bar upward there is presented to the bottom fabric 20 the smooth rounded edge 4b which does not cut into the bottom fabric as in the case of cross bars or slats which have the open side downward or otherwise present a sharp edge to the bottom fabric. The means for connecting the cover 11 and bottom fabric 20 to the lower border frame is very important and have been especially designed to cooperate with the bottom support, and

particularly the cross bars, in such a manner as to form an air cushion which is very easily and quickly assembled and in which the wear upon the bottom fabric is 4reduced to a minimum. The multiple clamp 14, advantageously of two parts (as shown in Fig. 5) consists of a metal strip similar in form to the lower border frame. The outside wall of the multiple clamp is a smooth continuous strip lying parallel to the outside wall of the lower border frame. The inside portion of the clamp is provided with a plurality of teeth resultin in a multiplicity of clamping elements 1 The teeth 17 are so spaced 'that when the multiple clamp is in position on the lower border frame the teeth adjacent to the ends 16 of the cross bars 4 will straddle the rounded portions 4b of the cross bars and clamp the cover and bottom fabrics tightly against the cross bars. This cooperation between the clam ing elements and the cross b'arss especial y advantageous as it ives anchora e to the cover and bottom fa rics in addition to that obtained by the clamping action of the teeth on the lower border frame.

In applying the multiple clamp the teeth 17 l are bent around the lower border frame' clamping the fabric tightly against the said lower border frame and cross bars. The spacing of the teeth prevents the clamp from contacting with the cross bars and eliminates any cutting action on the fabric. The clampin action of the teeth 17 pulls the bottom fa ric 20 tightly against the rounded portion 4b of the. transverse bars throughout the entire length ofthe same and holds the fabric tightly against the cross bar to prevent flapping, with its resulting wear upon the bottom fabric. The teeth 17 between the transverse cross bars depress or stretch the bottom fabric 20 into the spaces between the cross bars as shown in Figs. 4 and 6. This places the bottom fabric under tension and further tends to prevent flapping when the seat is in use. This method of clamping is advantaressens geous for the cover and bottom fabric are simultaneously secured to the lower border frame by a simple and single clamping operation. Another advantage of this clamp is that it is so designed that it may be bent at the corners to form a continuous clamping strip and not leave an open or exposed surface at the corners which would be free from clamping action and' permit the fabric to become loosened at the corners. it is very essential that at the corners of the seat the fabric be just as securely clamped as it is along the sides of the lower border framee To secure this clamping action the spaces 15 are made of such a depth that they extend past the center line of the bead portion of the lower border frame when positioned upon the same. By having the depth of the spaces 15 as specified above it is possible to bend the clamping strip around the corners of the seat without buckling of the clamping strip. The spacing of the teeth 17 is such that when the cla-mp is bent as speciied above-at least one tooth of the clamp will be positioned in the corner of the seat and ti htly clamp the fabric to the lower border rame at the corner. In bending the clamp at the corner the teeth will not interfere because of the manner in which they are spaced.

l'n assembling the seat cushion the cover 10 is spread upon a flat surface and a padding 9 is placed thereon: The spring frame' is then placed bottom up upon the padding and the bottom material 20 spread over the bottom of .the frame with its edges extend ing beyond the edges of the lower border frame. rlhe springs of the frame are thereafter partially collapsed by downward pressure upon the bottom of the frame, and the cover is folded inward to overlap the bottom fabric and the lower border frame. The two parts of the metal clamp 14 are then affixed to the lower border frame and by/ a single clamping operation grips the frame firmly and holds the overlapping materials 11 and 2O in permanent position. The bottom fabric is stretched tightly over the transverse cross bars and down into the spaces between -the same. The pressure upon the springs is then relieved to permit them to assume their normal position and thereby hold the cover l1 taut. The edge of the clamp 14 in the finished seat lies substantially `in a 'plane slightly below the rest of the Vseat so that when the seat is placed in position upon its support only the edge of the clamp contacts the support, the bottom fabric being out of contact with the said support and therefore not subjected to wear by rubbing action of the support.

In order to permit the cushion seat to have a damping action against the effect of shocks there is provided in the bottom fabric 20 one or more eyelets 2l preferably covered with wire gauze to permit air to enter or leave the interior of the cushion at a limited rate when the cushion is suddenly extended or col lapsed by shock.

F rom the foregoing it will be apparent that l have provided a cushion seat which is easily and economically assembled and which is permanently adapted to retain its air cushion eiiect by reason of the provision of a bottom material so mounted upon the frame of the seat that it is not subjected to wear and consequent rapid destruction of the said effect. The several features herein set forth are in themselves improvements over the prior art. But when these features are combined and coordinated as described there is produced an air cushion seat of great structural strength and durability and in which the covering material is given a much better anchorage to the seat frame. By coordinating the various structural parts the bottom fabric is free from any tendency of flapping which causes excessive wear of the bottom fabric which in prior constructions led to an early failure. This is one of the great advantages of the present construction. The cushion seat produced in accordance with the above disclosure is very much superior to the commercial seats now in use.

What l claim is:

1. An air cushion seat comprising upper and lower border frames; said lower border frame having inside and an outside wall, transverse cross bars positioned in said lower border frame the ends of said cross bars being secured between the inside and outside walls of said lower border frame, a fabric cover and bottom material for said seat and means for simultaneously clamping said cover and said bottom material to the lower border frame. l

2. ln a cushion seat and the like, a spring frame comprising a lower border frame having opposite sides, a plurality of transverse bars bridging two opposite sides of said border frame the ends of said bars being clamped in position within said lower border frame, said transverse bars and said lower border frame lying in substantially the same plane, a fabric cover and bottom material enclosing said spring frame, means for simultaneously clamping said cover Vand bottom material to the lower border frame, said clamping means straddling said transverse bars and serving to hold said bottom material tightly against said transverse cross bars to prevent apping of the bottom material.

3. in a cushion seat and the like, a bottom support comp-rising a lower border frame having a vertical outside wall and a turned head portion, aplurality of U shaped trans' verse spring supportin bars having downwardly turned ends c amped between the vertical outside wall and the bead portions of the lower border.` frame, the ends of said transverse bars and lower border frame being in substantially the-same plane and means 'comprising a swaged portion of the vertical bar with respect to the frame.

4. In a cushion seat and the like adapted to receive a fabric covering, alower border frame having opposite sides, each side having a pair of upwardly extendingr members, a plurality of transverse bars bridging two opposite sides of said frame and having the opposite ends secured between the upwardly extending members of the lower border frame, theends of said transverse bars and lower border frame being in substantially the same plane, and clamping means for securing the fabric covering to the lower border frame, said clamping means straddling said transverse bars.

5. In a cushion seat and the like, a lower border frame having a vertical outside wall and a turned bead portion, a plurality of transverse spring supporting bars bridging two opposite sides of the lower border frame and having downwardly turned ends clamped between the vertical side wall and the bead pcrtion of said lower border frame, the ends of said transverse bars and lower border frame being in substantially the same plane, the vertical outside wall of the lower border frame being swaged over the top of the transverse bar to conform to the irregularities of the bar at the contacting points yto prevent longitudinal movement thereof, and a multiple clamping strip for securing fabric covering` to the lower border frame, said clamping strip straddling. the transverse cross bars.

6. 'In a cushion seat and the like adapted to receive a fabric covering a lower border frame having opposite sides, each side having a pair of upwardly extending members, a plurality of transverse U-shaped bars bridging two opposite sides of said frame and having the opposite ends secured between the upwardly extending members of the lower border frame, said transverse bars being so positioned relative to the lower border frame that the open side thereof is upward and clamping means for securing. the Jfabric covering to the lower border frame, said llamping means straddling said transverse ars.

7, In a cushion seat and the like adapted to receive a fabric covering a lower border framehaving a vertical outside wall and a turned bead portion, a plurality of transverse U-shaped bars having downwardly turned ends clamped between the vertical side wall andthe bead portion of the lower border frame7 means for securing the fabric covering to the lower border frame, said means which has a vertical outside wall and an inside wall consisting of a plurality of clampin elements, the said clamping 4.elements being so spaced that when the two parts of the clamp are assembled in position on the lower border frame, the said clamping elements 'will straddle the transverse cross bars.

8. In a cushion seat and the like adapted to receive a fabric covering, a lower border frame having two vertical walls, transverse U-shaped barshaving downwardly turned` affixed my signature.

HARRY E. WOLF.

hereunto comprising a two-part clamp each part of 

